Sophos Adds Endpoint Security To UTM Offering

Sophos, a Boston-based security vendor, has rolled out an expanded unified threat management platform that integrates gateway security and endpoint security into a single product. The move is expected to increase efficiencies associated with configuring multiple endpoint solutions across an entire enterprise.

Sophos UTM 9 combines the company's legacy security technologies with those of Astaro, a complementary security company that was acquired by Sophos last year.

"Our customers can log in and have an endpoint that they would like to protect," said senior product manager Angelo Comazzetto, who joined the company through the Astaro acquisition. "They click on the link and can then send that link around to the client machines to install the agents. Once they have the agents installed, they get access to the LiveConnect cloud service. This ensures the consistency of the security profile, regardless of whether the user is in the office or on the road. Because it is tied right into the UTM, itself, this enables us to deploy a lot of the other Sophos features such as web protection and enforcement, mobile control, disk encryption, etc. We can do a lot of really neat things off that platform as we move forward."

Features include support for HTML5 VPN, which enables secure remote application access without installing additional software onto the desktop.

"If you've a lot of remote workers, the ability to do the VPN via browser is pretty cool," said Todd O'Bert, president and CEO of Productive Corp., a Minneapolis-based channel partner. "Also, being able to push policies out by using the gateway makes things a lot more efficient."

The system also provides support for wireless hotspots, managing Internet access for guests and visitors, as well as for employees who bring their own devices.

Email and web traffic are scanned using Sophos’ anti-virus technology as well as a virus engine supplied by AV vendor, Avira.

Comazzetto added that Sophos is 100 percent channel focused, and it is moving increasingly towards two-tiered distribution, in contrast to its previous high-touch model.

"There's a huge market of Sophos partners, who know a lot about security but are not particularly familiar with UTM," he said. "So we can help them ramp up in the skill set and have a lot of success so they don't end up leaving money on the table for their competitors."

Doron Kempel says selling hyper-convergence can be challenging for solution providers, but success will come from taking business from competitors that are unprepared or hesitant to embrace the technology.